History of Psionics and the Institute
The history of psionics is extremely intertwined with the founding of the Rothschild Institute of Psionics, even outside of Verdamt and beyond the continent of Tartra. This page details the history of both. Before the Modern Calendar ??? BMC - As with most everything about life before the implementation of the modern calendar, not much is known about Civilization Alpha's treatment of their psionics by the people of PT. What I will say as the all knowing creator of the world is that during Civilization Alpha's lifespan, they were extremely few in number, and were mostly spoken of in the context of conspiracy theories and hearsay rumors. Confirmed psionics were kidnapped/disappeared by the government for study. After the second impact to the moon, pieces of it fell to earth as meteors, destroying Civilization Alpha entirely. In the wake of the lunar fallout, the frequency of psionic powers in humans skyrocketed to a catastrophic peak, and tons and tons of people died and it sucked and was all around a total bummer. There was a lot of strife and unsurety on how to handle the problem--the bulk of these new psionics were sick and dying from lunar radiation exposure, and yet they were dangerous to those around them through no fault of their own. Different communities argued on whether it was best to leave them to their fates (by illness or by lycomorph) for the good of the rest of the population or if it was the group's duty to care for them through the rest of their terminal illness. The terrifying existence of ecliptamorphs further polarized the views of the apocalypse's survivors. It was a time of great strife and division on top of the strife and division of the apocalypse. As time passed after the apocalyptic moonfall, the number of psionics fell, but never again reached its initial low during Civilization Alpha. These newer psionics were seemingly more resistant to lunar radiation than those who died en masse before them, although they were still significantly less resistant than the non-psionic population. They remained pariahs in the remains of society. Uncounted years later (multiple decades, or perhaps even centuries), humanity gets its shit together enough to cobble together a few functional, independent cities. These cities would go on to band together to form the alliance that would eventually become Verdamt, hereto referred to as "Beta Verdamt." The Rothschild Council 0030 VMC - Across the new city-states of Beta Verdamt, people were divided on how to deal with the issues surrounding the small but notable psionic population. Misinformation was rampant, and an undercurrent of fear remained. Law enforcement and doctors alike were unprepared and unsure when it came to dealing with psionics, and so to deal with them and the surrounding problems, a new coalition was formed: the Rothschild Council, named for Hayes Rothschild, an officer of the law who became the first warden of the Council. The Rothschild Council was one part research team and two parts brute law enforcement, dragging psionics from their home and giving them the choice of life inside a Rothschild Safe House, exile from society, or execution. Rothschild Safe Houses were intended to function as sanctuaries, and to some extent, they were: life as a psionic was often short and incredibly grim, and these safe houses provided shelter and some care when the rest of the world was hesitant to give it. Still, life inside them was unpleasant; though the standards and quality of life varied from safe house to safe house, most of them gave their residents little agency, enforcing strict curfews and rules on where they could go, what they could do, what possessions they could have, etc. The worst safe houses were little more than prisons with lifetime sentences. Development of Psionic Augmentation 0130 VMC - Roughly one hundred years later, with the rise of prototypical cybernetic prosthetics/robot limbs in the works, the first [[Psionic Implants|'psionic augmentation']] practices were born in an effort to reduce psionic-related disasters and successfully contain psionic criminals and other dangerous psionics without needing to execute them. Though rough at first, this practice was successful beyond expectation--with years of practice and coaching, those who were augmented could lead relatively normal lives, and could learn to control their abilities at will. In the eyes of the ambitious, this turned psionics from a liability to a valuable resource. The Rothschild Institute of Psionics 0130 VMC - Law enforcement and the other armed forces of Beta Verdamt, who were previously content to let psionics "be the Council's problem," now took abundant interest in incorporating psionics into their ranks. However, most psionics at this point were a bunch of socially ostracized people cut off from resources, training, or education, most of whom had resided in Safe Houses since childhood; they were unfit or unqualified to serve in such demanding positions. Thus, the Beta Verdamt government poured tons of time and countless quantities of resources into the Rothschild Council to create training and education programs for psionics, leading to the Council's transformation into the Rothschild Institute of Psionics. The remote safe house from which most of the Council's research was conducted was expanded into the physical Institute. Schism between Beta Verdamt and the Institute 0140 VMC - The Institute's rise in prominence in the coming years in conjunction with the newfound respect and importance psionics gained in society led to a massive political shift within the Council. It began to move away from the goal of containing psionics, and towards the goal of advocation and support. This caused conflict between the powers in Beta Verdamt and the Rothschild Institute. Furthermore, the Institute itself suffered from divisive internal conflict. In ten short years since the invention of augmentation, there had become a massive political schism inside the Institute and out. The non-psionic Council members debated, some still clinging to the old views of containment while others argued for societal integration and the dissolvement of the rigid policing of psionics. Among the psionics themselves, opinions were split between moving for integration and arguing for isolationism and self sufficiency. Ezra Tanikawa, one of the most powerful psionics at the time and an advocate for the Institute's independence from Beta Verdamt, became the first member of the Rothschild Council to be a psionic herself. With the only psionic Council member being pro-independence, it became the stance most represented in the Institute's politics, and eventually Beta Verdamt cut support and funding from the Rothschild Institute in an attempt to starve them back under their control. This did not work as, unbeknownst to all but a scarce few, the Rothschild Institute's endeavors were secretly receiving support from the Illuminati. Moonfall and the Destruction of Beta Verdamt 0145 VMC - Five years after Beta Verdamt cut ties with the Rothschild Institute, a second, less severe bout of moonfall brought the destruction of a large portion of Beta Verdamt. The following lycomorph resurgence and struggle to survive moved attention away from the increasingly independent Institute, which flourished. Even without legal permission to recruit psionics, they continued to grow as they became a progressively more appealing for psionic refugees to escape the hardships of living in the ruins of Beta Verdamt's cities. After a brief pause due to the lack of demands of Beta Verdamt, the Institute resumes its trend towards militarization. At the time, it is argued to be a self defense measure against lycomorphs and other neighboring nations looking to prey on the Institute now that it does not have Verdamt to fall back on. The Birth of Verdamt 0160 VMC - After numerous attempts to reestablish themselves, the remains of Beta Verdamt finally pull together and become Verdamt in its current form. Desperate, Verdamt officially grants the Rothschild Institute rights to every psionic within their territories in return for protection and aid. Their allyship resumes, this time with a new respect for the power of the Rothschild Institute. Expansion 0200 - 0400 VMC - With the help of the Institute, Verdamt becomes a force to be reckoned with and a world power. The Rothschild Institute continues to expand, making agreements with some of the other neighboring nations similar to their agreements with Verdamt. Despite the technical separation between Verdamt and the Institute, most of the countries who comply had little choice due to being conquered by Verdamt, losing to Verdamt, or being afraid of ending up like Verdamt's enemies. Helzmuth Conflict 0440 VMC - Despite Verdamt's long running feud with Helzmuth, the Rothschild Institute attempts to negotiate agreements with it under the table. Helzmuth, wanting to keep control of their own psionic population, orders the abduction of the Institute's visiting ambassadors and sets to work reverse engineering the augmentation process, ultimately killing the imprisoned ambassadors. With lack of official proof and risky odds, the Rothschild Institute does not declare war on Helzmuth, but keeps a wary, vengeful eye on them. Helzmuth begins developing their own militarized psionic program. The Last War 0450 VMC - The Last War begins between Helzmuth and Verdamt. Needless to say, the Institute is quick to aid Verdamt against Helzmuth. The war is resource intensive for everyone involved, but the Institute, being the reserved organization they are, keeps themselves in better shape compared to either country. In 0465 VMC, The Last War ends due to moonfall destroying Helzmuth. The Rothschild Institute recruits the stragglers from Helzmuth's now defunct psionics program and leaves those who refuse to die. Present Day It's around 048X VMC, and the Institute is goin' strong folks!! Category:History Category:Rothschild Academy